Kris update: “We have a plan!”

Dearest loved ones and friends!

As I’ve said many times, Kris wants to go home. No doubt she misses her beautiful home outside San Antonio, and the big yard and the pool and patio out back. She misses being home for holidays, spending time with Andrea, kidding with Joshua (he’s quite the cut up, especially now that he’s a senior in high school!), and enjoying Russell’s endeavors on the grill. We see Kris’s efforts to work hard every day, but the weekends are very difficult. Try as we might to keep her mind busy, when Russell and the kids leave after their visit on Sunday, it’s very, very hard for Kris.

It’s also very hard to think about Kris spending time in a long term care facility after her month-long special communication therapy at the VA. But that seems to be the general consensus of the military doctors who have evaluated Kris: she cannot go home yet. However, Russell and I were talking just today and a plan appears to be unfolding. There is hope and that hope is what Kris and all of us will hold on to in the months ahead.

Part of Kris’s benefit package is an allowance for home renovation which will enable Russell to either add or refurbish a large room at their home. That room will include a full bath with large walk-in shower for Kris to utilize a rolling shower chair. It will have all the amenities of a hospital room, including a little refrigerator for meds and special things for Kris, a counter sink, lots of cupboard space, a beautiful mechanical bed for her, lots of windows and a door that leads to the patio, or to a walkway that leads all the way around to the front of the house. It will have monitors and special doors and plenty of room for a dresser, desk and a recliner chair, and a smooth, soft tile floor. Russell said she’ll have the best TV, too, so they’ll all be able to watch TV or a movie with her.

Now we are really excited! Of course, it will still mean Kris must have a full-time care nurse during the day at least, possibly for 12 to 16 hours. There may be some VA requirement for that when all is said and done, and that’s perfectly understandable. Kris will need lots of care. But she’ll be home and that gives her something wonderful to look forward to.

As of right now, we have to be approved for an interim long term care facility for Kris to go to after her month’s stay at the Audie Murphy Center. Russell is working on the admission packet, and he will submit it at once. This coming week may be her last at RIOSA, and certainly she is ready to move on. Not that the care hasn’t been great and the stay there hasn’t been super. It has. RIOSA’s staff and employees have truly been kind, understanding, and worked very hard to make Kris’s stay a good one. We are so grateful, too, for the tremendous therapy folks. I’ve said before there are cases at RIOSA that would touch your heart. The young man there now, for instance, who just received a Purple Heart for his bravery in Iraq. His commanding officer and a whole group of fellow Marines and officers came to RIOSA to present it to him.

There are many more wonderful stories of recovery and healing and, of course, Kris is a part of the tremendous work done at RIOSA. We are so deeply grateful to everyone there. But, as I said, she is ready now to move on to her next step, then the next, and then, prayerfully, hopefully, to her brand new room at home with her family. Of course, when we visited them before Kris’s accident, there was always room for our motor home in the driveway along side their house. Russell said we’re always welcome, and that’s music to our ears.

Today was a tremendously emotional day all across the country. George and I both had to pause this morning during a time of devotion, as we prayed for the survivors of September 11th, for Americans everywhere, and for all our family. May we never, ever forget the horrendous loss of life that day at the hands of those who still seek to do us harm, and the courage of our men and women in the military who help keep America safe while serving on foreign soil. For those who don’t believe in their sacrifices, be assured you would not have your freedoms had the first soldier not put on the first uniform hundreds of years ago. We have a grandson who just joined the Marines, and we are extremely proud of him, too.

The attached photo was taken in Balad, Iraq in 2007 during a benefit run. That’s Kris waving at the camera as she takes a fast sip of water.

Please continue to pray for Kris, for her family, for her siblings and their families, and for all her friends and fellow service men and women who serve. We have a plan now and, with God’s great help and strength and unfailing love, He will see us through!

Blessings and much love,

Carol and George

[Hallelujah!!  We are rejoicing with Kris, Russell, the kids, Carol and George!  Praise God! This plan sounds like something Carol and George can live with.]